Old Manila (2nd Edition)

Authored by Carlos Quirino
Edited by Ma. Eloisa P. de Castro

First published in 1971, this evocative and superbly researched collection of essays charts the changing nature of Manila and its inhabitants. National Artist Carlos L. Quirino examines Manila from the early eleventh century through the end of Spanish rule, rendering the past in witty and imaginative ways. This book addresses such varied themes as religion, theater, war, food, pestilence, immigration, crime and punishment, coinage, and art. This new edition contains the original text with enriched visuals—maps, postcards, engravings, sketches, and photographs—making it a comprehensive pictorial record of Manila and its denizens through the centuries.

Its keen focus on social and genealogical history is brought out by Augusto M.R. González III, who charts the fascinating and intertwined stories of distinguished Spanish, mestizo, indio, and Chinese Manileño families.

© 2016
320 pages

About the Author 

Carlos L. Quirino (1910-1999) became National Artist for Historical Literature in 1997, a fitting tribute to his groundbreaking historical and biographical writings. Among his works are The Great Malayan (1940), a prizewinning biography of José Rizal; Lives of the Philippine Presidents (1952); The Young Aguinaldo (1969); and Filipinos at War (1981).

Quirino was director of the National Library, founding curator of the Ayala Museum and Iconographic Archives, and fellow of the Royal Geographic Society of the United Kingdom. He was the only Filipino to twice win the prestigious Republic Cultural Heritage Award.

Old Manila will again be a definitive and readily available reference for a new generation of Filipinos—and “Metro Manileños” in particular—to discover, appreciate, and be inspired by the history of Spanish Manila and of the city itself as a unique cultural testament to its legacy and continuing role as the primary gateway between the Philippine archipelago and the wider world. The stories and narratives of Old Manila... should never stop being told as they are told here, with obvious love and pride for a place that, with the relentless pressures of development, is growing ever harder to identify with and cherish as other nations cherish their old and great cities and national centers of history and culture.

- Jeremy R. Barns
Director, National Museum of the Philippines

With the second edition of Maps and Views, this venerable 45-year old gains new life. Apart from providing a new public with the sparkling texts and memorable images of Quirino’s 1971 opus, it picks up from where the book left off. A treasury of new data from archaeological digs, scholarly publications, hard-to-find conference proceedings, articles published abroad, and private collections, has been merged with the original text by Dr. Ma. Eloísa Parco de Castro and the publisher Gaspar Vibal—but always with a clear delineation as to what was original and what was added, explained, or updated. Each section is followed by notes to sources and suggestions for, appropriately enough, “further reading enjoyment.” Complementing the texts are illustrations that previously could be found with some difficulty in scattered sources but are now put together within two covers (how happy to have pre-Hispanic gold, Laureano Atlas, and José Honorato Lozano within a few pages of each other). The original images in Maps and Views have been re-shot, with provenances and additional captions provided; many are in large format, the better to be appreciated. There is a bonus section on the old Manila families by Augusto M. R. González III.

The second edition of Carlos L. Quirino’s Old Manila is a fitting selection for the works to be made available by Vibal Foundation in time for the 500th year of the arrival of Christianity in the country. 

- Regalado Trota José 
Cultural heritage advocate
Archivist, University of Santo Tomás